1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a method and system for enabling a user to create a destination of his/her ideas, research, recommendations, interests, and/or other content in a collection, which may be submitted to a database, where, among other things, such collection can be accessed, analyzed, modified, optimized, or shared by such user and/or other users of the system (or the system) in response to a search query, or who otherwise browse and find such collections. The present disclosure also relates to a method and system of evaluating the merit and relevancy of any such collection as it pertains to an individual search, various keywords or tags, and/or to the system as a whole, as well as a method and system that can recognize the intent of the user when submitting a search query via the browser or application, then sent to a server, returning a relevant set of results in response to that specific query. The present disclosure also relates to a method and system of analyzing the content and associated content of any such collection and relating such content to other collections as determined by any such analysis and enabling the association of such content. The present disclosure also pertains to a method and system of monetization that quantifies future activity with a discounted present value to introduce option pricing into the advertising marketplace. The present disclosure also pertains to a method and system of optimizing monetization for users who create collections, as well as enabling such users to submit requests via the browser or application to a server to select the advertising location and market participants within their collections. The present disclosure also pertains to a method and system of monetization that qualifies a commercial or other reward type event with a prior act of human intervention (at the browser or application) to more adequately associate the commercial event with a human being and/or intent. The present disclosure also pertains to a type of monetization that can be presented to users in the form of incentives or discounts in addition and alternatively to receiving cash for any relevant transaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Search is one of the most widely used utilities on the Internet. People use search engines to find, among other things, news and information to read and follow, content to be entertained, and products and services to purchase. A search user will type in a word or a series of words and the search engine will return a set of results from its database that it determines are relevant to the search query.
Search engines populate their databases of search results by scouring the web using robotic crawls that parse data and return content that can be formatted into a search result. The search engine matches the content to certain words. For example a website about baseball would show in up a search query for “baseball” but would not show up in a search results for “thirteenth century European leaders.”
Search results displayed to a user are generally composed of a title and a description. The title is in the neighborhood of forty characters and the description is approximately one hundred and fifty characters. Those numbers have been adjusted from time to time. The title and the description are each generated by the technology of the search engine company, using data they obtain from the corresponding web site. Additional elements about the search listing, such as metadata, impressions, clicks, etc. are stored by the search engine company.
In addition to these search results (referred to often as algorithmic results) advertisers can pay to create their own search listings, composed of a title and description (and in some instances, a price per click the advertiser is willing to pay, although that may or may not be displayed to the user). These listings can be presented alongside algorithmic results or above or within the algorithmic results. These results are often referred to as “paid listings.”
The presence of an algorithmic result, and its ranking in the results, are determined by the algorithm of the search engine company as well as by webmasters and search engine optimizers who work diligently to maximize their respective sites or clients' sites ranking in the results by best understanding the algorithm of the search engine. If a user believes a certain result should be in the rankings or be the number one ranking for a query, they have no voice or ability to make that happen.
Results are returned in response to a query even though the search engine may have no idea who the user is at that moment in time. It is impossible for current search engines to fully understand and predict with perfect accuracy the intent of a user. A search engine can make assumptions that the person searching is the same person who used their product previously but in many cases, for example, in families where one computer or device is used by multiple people, it is challenging to truly discern intent. For example, a father may search for search results on “Paris” because he is interested in a vacation, while his school-age daughter may search for search results on “Paris” because she is doing a research project for school. The same problem can occur even if a single user searches on a computer or other device. Someone may search for “telescope” because they are interested in purchasing one, or because they want to learn how it is made. Depending on intent, a different set of search results should be presented but the search engine has no way of discerning intent based solely on a query. This is true even if a user is signed in with the search engine, as there can still be multiple users per account or different intentions with respect to the same search query.
Many search engines monetize their service with a cost per click business model. That is, advertisers pay the service every time there is a click on a paid listing that the advertiser has submitted to the service. However, it has recently been reported that many of these clicks are fraudulent and initiated by computers. Advertisers are paying for clicks that are not generated by potential customers.
Accordingly, a method and system are needed in this field to empower users to create a set of results that can be grouped into a collection. The collection (or portions thereof) can then be assigned (by the content creator, the system and/or other users of the system) to one or more keywords so that such collection can appear when a user searches using that keyword. In another embodiment of the disclosure a collection can then be assigned (by the content creator, the system and/or other users of the system) tags and/or additional keywords to reflect the collection's association (or disassociation) with other collections, other keywords, other tags, etc. In addition, a method and system are needed that can recognize the intent of the user when submitting a search query and return from the server a relevant set of results in response to that specific query. In addition, a method and system are needed that can evaluate the quality of a click received by the server and determine whether a human being is the initiator of that click so as to reward and charge different participants in the system (including but not limited to users, content creators and advertisers) accordingly. In addition, a method and system are needed that quantifies future activity on the system with a discounted present value to introduce option pricing into the advertising marketplace as well as enable users who create collections to share in revenue earned from activity associated with the users' collections or content, optimized by the system, and for the system to enable users to select how and where such revenue opportunities should occur (and with which market participant). In addition, a method and system are needed for a type of monetization that can be presented to users in the form of incentives or discounts in addition and alternatively to receiving cash for any relevant transaction.